Royal Caribbean to axe 55 non-sales job roles

Royal Caribbean to axe 55 non-sales job roles

Anthem of the Seas is cruising from Southampton Summer 2020

Royal Caribbean International is to axe 55 non-sales jobs at its UK and Ireland office in Surrey.

Jobs in departments such as revenue management and direct business will move from Weybridge to the company’s Miami HQ.

The move is part of a wider restructure which will see Royal Caribbean Cruises brands Royal Caribbean International, Celebrity Cruises and Azamara operate independently from April 1.

Ben Bouldin, who has been promoted to vice president of Europe, Middle East and Africa, said the shake-up would not affect the company’s sales team in the UK, where 300 people are employed.

He said: “This has been driven by three key things: a desire to have a real trade-focused business model, enable centralisation of non-sales functions and enable the brand to go single branded worldwide.

“The business is going to be split into two. We are going to have a managed part of the business and a non-managed part.

All of the 55 job roles will be phased out over the next eight months, however, some staff have already left.

Meanwhile, the French, German and Italian markets will be managed by third-party teams in each nation, while Gianni Rotondo, associate vice president, non-managed markets, will oversee them.

Bouldin said: “We had a situation where we had put a lot of people in these markets and it has not worked.

“We are essentially a kick-ass sales machine across the EMEA. There are a lot of good people in the jobs market, but I am delighted that we’ve kept a lot of good people too.”

The announcement follows a raft of changes to the trade sales team which were unveiled earlier this month.

Torey Kings-Hodkin, who was Thomas Cook’s former head of commercial partnerships, has taken over from Donna Carley as the line’s head of key accounts.

Bouldin added that restructure demonstrated how the line remains “most committed to the trade”.

He will report into Sean Treacy who has been promoted to senior vice president of international, moving from the role of vice president of Latin America and international strategy.

Treacy will be responsible for the cruise line’s business across the Asia Pacific region, Australia, New Zealand and Europe, Middle East and Africa (EMEA).